Weird

  HAVANA (AP) -  A team of Croatian chefs whipped up a pungent meal Thursday, infusing the flavor of the tobacco leaf synonymous with Cuba into baked stone bass filets, bread and butter, a rich demi-glace sauce, even ice cream.

 

     The result was a tangy heat that one taster likened to ancho chili powder, and a powerful finish with all the nicotine kick of a chubby Montecristo cigar.

 

     "Wow, buzz city!" said Gary Heathcott, a public relations worker from Little Rock, Arkansas, who also writes for Smoke magazine. "The first buzz I ever received from biting into fish."

 

     Grgur Baksic, owner and executive chef of the Gastronomadi dinner club in Zagreb, led the demonstration before a standing-room-only crowd of aficionados at a Havana convention center as part of Cuba's 15th annual Cigar Festival.

 

     It's a six-day bash that brings together hundreds of cigar sophisticates from around the world, and culminates Saturday night with a gala and auction of humidors worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

     A dozen cameras following their every move, Baksic and two other chefs carefully wrapped the bass filets in tobacco and banana leaves, with a sprinkling of garlic and honey to draw out the smoky flavor.

 

     As the mild white fish baked for about a half hour, they demonstrated how stirring tobacco sauces into butter can create a sharp spread for bread and crackers, and used a torch to dry out liquid-infused tobacco salt that can be employed in just about any dish.

 

     "It's like how you can put chili on a sweet or a sour, you can put honey on a fish and on a fruit and on a meat," Baksic said. "Something that is good is always good. You cannot make a mistake."

 

     Baksic said Thursday's demonstration was the result of two years of trial and error. He said they unsuccessfully tried American, European and African tobacco varieties before settling on Cuban tobacco, which he called the finest in the world. The chefs warned tasters not to eat the leaves themselves, which would be hard on the stomach.

 

     Why tobacco?

 

     "Why rosemary? Why chili? It's about variety," Baksic said. "We are a little bit crazy. Our company are gastro-explorers, so we are always looking for what ... is not normal for other people."

 

     Some at the demonstration found the ice cream overwhelming. What started out as a smooth, milky sweetness soon set throats on fire.

 

     "I think they (nonsmokers) might find it a bit strong, and also they might actually get high," said James Suckling, an American food, wine and cigar critic living in Hong Kong. "So probably in small doses they might find it amusing."

 

     Suckling, like other cigar aficionados sitting on a 16-member tasting panel, gave the meal good reviews, however.

 

     "At first I didn't really get much flavor and I thought it wasn't up to much," he said. "But then I started tasting the fish ... and it has a very spicy, almost intense black-pepper taste. And then you get the nicotine and it's like you've been chewing tobacco."

 

     Heathcott put it more succinctly: "It grabs you by the throat."

 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - The latest craze to sweep the Internet is bringing college students the wrong kind of attention - from the Federal Aviation Administration. 

 

     During a flight from Colorado Springs to San Diego, a group of students started the Harlem Shake, a dance to a song of the same name.

 

     In the suddenly popular YouTube videos, one person starts dancing, then the video cuts to a large group of people dancing, many in costume.

 

     Matt Zelin, a sophomore, told the Colorado College newspaper, The Catalyst (http://bit.ly/13qgjK2 ), he asked a flight attendant for permission beforehand.

 

     FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said Thursday they're looking at what phase the flight was in during the dance in the aisles.

 

     Frontier Airlines says the seatbelt sign was off and safety measures were followed.

 

     

 

  PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Beer lovers across the country have filed $5 million class-action lawsuits accusing Anheuser-Busch of watering down its Budweiser, Michelob and other brands. 

 

     The suits were filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states on behalf of consumers allegedly cheated out of the beverage's stated alcohol content. Budweiser and Michelob each boast being 5 percent alcohol, while some "light" versions are said to be just over 4 percent.

 

     Lead lawyer Josh Boxer of San Rafael, Calif., said Tuesday the suits are based on information from former employees at some of the company's 13 U.S. breweries. Boxer said water is added just before bottling, and cuts the stated alcohol content by 3 to 8 percent.

 

     The multinational Anheuser-Busch InBev calls the claims groundless, and says its beers fully comply with labeling laws. 

 

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  SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Legislative sessions can be dull and boring, but Oregon lawmakers have moved to commemorate the humdrum - even if no one is quite sure how. 

 

     Based on their mundane names, the communities of Dull, Scotland, and Boring, Oregon, formed an international partnership last year to build cultural and commercial connections.   

 

     And Oregon House lawmakers took that a step further Wednesday, voting to make Aug. 9 Boring and Dull Day, putting the name of the U.S. town first despite mild objections from their European counterparts.  

 

     The plan, which now heads to the state Senate, is intended to boost tourism. 

 

     Republican Rep. Bill Kennener, the proposal's sponsor, announced the bill with a 10-minute speech, but never got around to saying what one might do in observance. 

 

     A fellow Republican, Rep. Kevin Cameron, later joked that he spotted an intern falling asleep during the address.

 

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  NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities have charged a man with ripping off a Salvador Dali painting from a Manhattan gallery, only to return it in the mail.

 

     The suspect appeared in court on Tuesday following his arrest in the theft of a work titled "Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio."

 

     Prosecutors allege that he walked into the Upper East Side gallery one afternoon in June, put the painting in a shopping bag and walked out. 

 

     They say after security video images of the man were widely circulated, he anonymously mailed the piece back to the United States from Greece.

 

     

 

<VIDEO> Instead of the usual three to five orphaned cubs, a bear rehabilitator in New Hampshire is caring for 27 cubs this winter, thanks to a swing in the food supply. With so many companions, young bears are not sleeping.

  NEW YORK (AP) - Lovers of the unusual are getting another chance to impress their Valentines this year in New York City.

 

     The Department of Environmental Protection is again offering Valentine's Day tours of the Newtown Creek sewage treatment plant in Brooklyn's Greenpoint section.

 

     The DEP says it's offering three tours this year due to "overwhelming demand."

 

     The 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. tours were quickly filled. So another was added at 11 a.m. Thursday.

 

     Highlights include the plant's giant egg-shaped digesters, which break down noxious waste into harmless sludge and gas. 

 

     During last year's tour, the plant's gung-ho superintendent warned the visitors a digester egg was about to emit a foul odor. It didn't disappoint.

 

 NEW YORK (AP) - Don't blame Beyonce for blowing the lights out at the Super Bowl.

 

     NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday that the halftime show was "absolutely not" the cause of the power outage that darkened the Superdome for half an hour during Sunday's broadcast.

 

     Beyonce was the halftime performer at Sunday night's game and used plenty of power to light up the stage. Some had joked that her electrifying performance was to blame for the outage.

 

     Beyonce's 13-minute set included hits "Crazy in Love," "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and a Destiny's Child reunion.

 

 PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani officials say the government plans to build a recreation complex in the town where al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos in 2011.

 

     Syed Aqil Shah, sports and tourism minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Monday the project in Abbottabad will have a zoo, paragliding club and water sports facilities. It will also have cultural heritage park. 

 

     Shah said the development is not intended to counter Abbottabad's negative reputation following bin Laden's discovery there. He said it's part of a revival of recreational and cultural activities in the province.

 

     But Javed Iqbal Abbasi, a lawmaker from the area, hoped the project will improve Abbottabad's image. 

 

     It will cost about $50 million and take five years to build. Construction will begin in a few weeks.

 

  BERLIN (AP) - Police in Germany say someone dressed as the Cookie Monster has sent a second note regarding a stolen cookie sculpture - this time saying he wants to return it.

 

     But officials aren't sure the person in the photo actually stole the 20-kilogram (44 pound), century-old sculpture.

 

     The gilded bronze item was part of a statue outside German cookie baker Bahlsen's Hannover office, and it was reported stolen last month.

 

     The Hannover police's statement says a local newspaper on Monday received a picture of someone dressed like the Sesame Street character holding what appears to be the stolen cookie. 

 

     The enclosed note is written in cut-out letters.

 

     An earlier letter demanded that cookies be delivered to children at a city hospital, but the new note made no demands.

 

  BALTIMORE (AP) - The chimpanzees at The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore think their team is going to win Sunday's Super Bowl. 

 

     The zoo on Friday orchestrated a way for the animals to make their prediction. Keepers put up two paper banners in the chimps' enclosure, one for the Baltimore Ravens and another for the San Francisco 49ers. The zoo's 11 chimpanzees were then allowed in to the enclosure. Zoo spokeswoman Jane Ballentine says the chimps first ripped off a piece of the Baltimore banner, signaling their prediction.

 

     The zoo has made banners for the chimps to tear down before on occasions like Halloween and Valentine's Day, but they've never been used as a prediction tool. 

 

     The chimps were also given junior size footballs in Ravens colors to play with on Friday.

 

     INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says it is asking a prosecutor to drop charges against a couple who nursed an injured baby deer back to health.

 

     The DNR said in a statement Friday that Gov. Mike Pence asked the agency to reevaluate the case. 

 

     The DNR says it is seeking the dismissal of misdemeanor charges of illegal possession of a white-tailed deer against police officer Jeff Counceller and his wife, Jennifer, of Connersville.

 

     The case has sparked an Internet furor.

 

     The couple found the injured deer in 2010. The DNR told the Councellers to return the ailing deer to the wild, but they took it home and nursed it back to health. The deer vanished last summer on the day when the DNR planned to euthanize the animal.